


Good Enough

by abswritesfandoms



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 08:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15882399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abswritesfandoms/pseuds/abswritesfandoms
Summary: This is my first fic on here, so I hope you like it!





	Good Enough

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic on here, so I hope you like it!

The Avengers compound was almost silent save for the shouting coming from Tony Stark’s lab. It was his voice and a female voice, but not Pepper or any of the Avengers. No, it was his daughter. At fifteen Jes Stark was an intelligent young woman, but from her view that’s all her father saw her as. Not someone to care for or love, just a business prospect.

“Fine! Next time I’ll remember to ‘cut the bullshit’! At the same time I may as well grow a dick so I’m actually of some fucking worth to you!”

The door to the lab slammed shut, and Peter Parker jumped slightly at it. Jes was stood there, trying not to cry and shaking with rage, and then she saw him.

“He’s in there if you want him,” she spat, eyes on fire, “I would warn you and say that he’s in a shitty mood but he’ll be nice to you, don’t worry.”

She moved past him, fists clenched. In the background she heard the lab door open again, and her father’s voice greet his apprentice in a friendly tone. Nothing was said to her as she walked down the hallway. It was like this a lot. Tony’s favourite child that wasn’t even bloody his would go in and get the lovely, happy side, and Jes, the man’s real biological daughter, would be subjected to that. It was better when the drinking was out of control. At least then she would be able to pretend that it was the alcohol that was making him hate her.

Her feet took her to the garage. She didn’t know why, but she liked how quiet it could get so late in the day. The people who worked in the compound, the people who didn’t live there, had all gone home, so it was quiet there. And if she needed to there was always the quick getaway route. The door clicked shut behind her, and she slumped against it, letting the tears fall free. Sniffling, she took a deep breath, and looked up. Her lips parted slightly in surprise at the sight before her.

“Hey kiddo.” Steve stood there, giving her a kind smile. Behind him was a motorcycle, and Bucky and Sam were sat next to it, both looking as awkward as anything.

Steve and Sam she knew, having known the former since she was seven years old and the latter since she was eleven, but Bucky was new. This was only the third or fourth time she had been in the same room as him, though not by anyone’s fault. He kept to himself a lot, and she was sure that he felt some semblance of guilt about what had happened with her grandparents - something that after seeing the footage of what HYDRA did to him she didn’t hold against him.

She cleared her throat slightly, brushing a bit of hair behind her ear. “I, uh, I’ll get going. You guys look busy and I don’t want to interrupt anything, y’know. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.”

Jes turned to leave, but Steve shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Come sit.”

“Yeah, we need someone interesting to talk to,” Sam piped up, jerking a thumb over to Bucky. “Tin man over here can’t even remember half of the interesting shit.”

Even Bucky gave a small laugh at that, and seeing that she wasn’t intruding, she walked over. She wasn’t sure why she was relieved, but she had been dreading having to find somewhere else to go to in the compound, and she was dreading being alone, too. The bad thoughts got to the front of her mind when she was alone. Steve pulled up another stool for her and she sat down. There was a component that needed cleaning, so not wasting any time she picked it up, the cloth getting pinched between her fingers as she did so. The room was quiet as the four of them worked, but it wasn’t awkward. It was nice to just be in each others company. After a few minutes though, she felt a finger poke her knee, and she looked up, seeing Steve looking at her with that concerned expression he did so well.

“You want to talk about it?” He asked, brows raising slightly.

Jes gave a small sigh and put the component in her lap on the cloth. “It’s just… I don’t feel good enough, y’know? All my life I’ve had ‘improve this’ or ‘you could’ve done better’ and it’s just so frustrating. With the drinking I could deal with it because then I could let myself believe that the alcohol was the problem but now he’s clean and it’s the same. And if that isn’t bad enough this Parker kid just waltzes in. You know how much I’ve wanted to be on missions, Steve, and then as soon as he hears about Spiderling over there he makes him a suit and brings him to Germany with no training or prep. I’ve been training since I met Nat for this, for helping people, and nothing happens and then someone who got bitten by a spider just goes out like that? I mean, c’mon. That’s just dangerous and stupid. And now of course Peter is like ‘the son he’s never had’ - that’s a quote by the way - and the other day I heard someone say ‘the kid he’s never had’. So I just feel a bit unwanted and worthless really.”

She tried to play it off, tried to make it look like she didn’t care, but she couldn’t. Her lips trembled and her eyes watered and then her face was in her hands as her shoulders shook from her crying. A warm arm went around her and she knew that it was Steve just from the amount of concern that was radiating off him.

“I just don’t know what I’ve done wrong,” she choked out, looking up at him. The small amount of mascara she had on was starting to run down her face, dark against her tanned skin.

“You’ve not done anything wrong,” Steve assured her, warmth in his voice even though she could see the annoyance in his eyes.

She gave a small sniffle and glanced at the other two in the room. Sam looked pissed of as all hell, and Bucky looked… Well, as he always did. Like a sad puppy. At least it wasn’t HYDRA’S fault this time. This time it was Jes’s.

“Christ, I’m sorry,” she sighed, “I shouldn’t have unloaded all that on you guys. I mean, you all have enough to deal with as it is.”

Her words trailed off with a weak chuckle, and her eyes went back down to the mechanical parts in her hands. Sometimes she just felt so selfish, being sad with a life like this. Her father was a millionaire - billionaire, even - and she could buy anything her heart desired. But she was still sad. Sad because her father tried to pass off giving her money as love, and if he didn’t need something from her, treating her as nothing.

And then a familiar voice cut off her thoughts.

“Cap’n, bird brain, manchurian candidate, would you give me a few moments alone with my daughter please.”

Jes clenched the cloth in her hands, not daring to look up. Oh God, she was scared. While they had their fights, she’d never told her dad how she felt, and now… He sat down across from her, and without looking up she spoke. “You heard it all?”

“Yeah, I did.”

She didn’t know what she was expecting, but the sadness and guilt in his voice wasn’t it. She looked up, meeting the eyes that were a mirror of her own, and waited for him to explain.

“I… I know I’ve always been a party animal, and I know that it put strain on you. When your mom died, I was left with a four year old kid that I just didn’t know what to do with, so I got nannies who were qualified to take care of you because I was so scared of messing it up. And then everything that happened in the desert, well, that happened, and I was saving the world.” He gave a small scoff at that. “When it got to New York, I was ready to try and be a father, so, so ready. But I nearly died in space through the portal and it scared me. More than scared me, actually, and I couldn’t let you see me like that so I tried to push you away to protect you. So that I didn’t have to let down yet another person. And then you started showing how good you are, and how you said you wanted to be like me, like Nat and Clint and everyone else, and I just had to protect you from it because I couldn’t let you get hurt like any of them. Not like me. Not like… Not like Pepper. After my surgery I was going to let you start to get into it, to learn, because I finally felt strong enough to protect you even without the suit when everything with Barnes happened and all I could see was you dying yet again like your grandparents, and you falling from the sky like Rhodey. Peter was a fresh start, after everything, and he was so innocent and he just… He didn’t know. There was no fear from him, only that he wanted to be a good guy and that he had such a bright future ahead of him, and I thought that if I could help him then it was prove to me that I was ready to help you, but… I was wrong. I was just making everything worse, and I am so, so sorry. I love you, Jes, and I just… Please, give me another chance.”

Tears were falling from Jes’s eyes by now as she watched her father, and for a good few moments she didn’t know what to say. This was… This was always what she’d wanted to hear from her dad, and he’d said it. A small sob left her, and she stood up, mechanical parts forgotten as she flung herself into her dad’s arms, her own going around the back of his neck. They’d had their differences, and they’d fought, but at the end of it all they both had done their best with the situation they’d been given. It was messed, with the events of the past ten years, and the way he’d found out he had a daughter in the first place - a four year old on your doorstep wasn’t the best way to find out, to say the least. It had been a struggle, and sometimes you had to deal with your own traumas and fears before you could help anyone else, just like on a plane - you do your own air mask first before your child’s, so you can help them better. It was be a long way to being normal, but it was a start, and Jes wasn’t going to pass it up, not now. Not after everything they’d been through. After a few moments she calmed herself, pulling back as she looked into her dad’s dark eyes.

“Things need to change, dad,” Jes told him, voice shaky from the tears yet still so authoritative. “You need to talk to me like I’m my age, not a five year old, and you need to let me do what I want to, to help people. Please, dad.”

She could see the conflict in his eyes, the fear and the protective nature, but eventually he sighed and nodded.

“I promise, Jessenia,” he finally replied, looking up once more, “I promise.”

A small smile formed on her face, and she nodded, hugging him tight once more as she whispered her thanks to him. Minutes passed, and she wasn’t sure how long they had sat there, but eventually the two Starks pulled back, smiling at each other. It was a new beginning for them, now that everything was on the table, and for the first time in years she had hope that the relationship she had with her dad would be repaired.

“So, I was thinking you can start work tomorrow,” he told her semi-casually, as he always did. “I have a call with Shuri, the Princess of Wakanda, so you can be in on it, if you want?”

His words at the end were tentative, as if he were scared of a backlash, and it was then that Jes realised that while her dad had been difficult, she had been just the same. She gave a small, reassuring smile, and nodded.

“I’d like that a lot,” she replied, kissing his cheek softly before standing up, wiping at her eyes slightly. No doubt her mascara would be everywhere, but she could fix that easily enough.

“Okay,” he smiled back, clearly relieved. “Be at the lab by 10 tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“And dinner tonight? I was thinking we could have a family dinner. You know, me, you, Pepper. We could get pizza, or Thai food, or Chinese food. Your pick.”

“Sounds perfect.”

It was awkward still, and the two had a fair way to go, but it was a start, and a start was all either of them had wanted, and for Jes, it was guaranteed that she wouldn’t let it go to waste. Not this time. This time, this change was here to stay.


End file.
